1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a mobile communication terminal and method and, particularly, to a mobile communication terminal and method which utilizes a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) as a security token to protect short text messages transmitted and received between mobile communication terminals, without changing an existing mobile communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the current communication environment focused on wired communication networks has been reorganized into a wireless communication network, because the wireless communication network provides easy network accessibility and communication under a mobile environment. In particular, with recent technology developments, service quality has been improved. Furthermore, as smart phones have become common, the number of users who use wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) 3G mobile communication has rapidly increased.
In the WCDMA 3G mobile communication, it is difficult for a third party to access communication data in a wireless channel, due to the characteristics of CDMA communication. However, when the information of a mobile communication terminal is known, communication data may be accessed by a third party in a wireless channel. In particular, since data are transmitted as a plain text in units other than the wireless channel, communication data are vulnerable to access by a third party. Therefore, in order to protect short text messages transmitted through the WCDMA 3G mobile communication network, end-to-end security is necessary for the transmission of these messages between a transmission-side terminal and a reception-side terminal.
Furthermore, in the WCDMA 3G mobile communication, subscriber information is stored in a USIM. That is since a subscriber is identified based on a USIM, a user may easily replace a mobile communication terminal by installing the USIM containing the subscriber's information in another mobile communication terminal.